Fox contributor Jason Chaffetz praises firing of Jeff Sessions and installation of pro-Trump acting attorney general

Chaffetz: Matthew Whitaker “has the trust of the president. That's important.”

From the November 8 edition of Fox News' Fox and Friends:

Video file

JASON CHAFFETZ (FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR): It was the right move. [Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions] had lost the confidence of the White House and the president a long time ago. He'd also lost the confidence of the United States Congress. I mean, you had congressional investigators that were stymied every step of the way. My interaction when I was the chairman of the Oversight Committee with Mr. Sessions was not a good one. We had literally more than a dozen things that we needed paperwork on. We had suggested in a bipartisan way to prosecute some people for lying to Congress. And he wouldn't move on anything. So I really got a real distaste for the attorney general in my mouth. But, I think the attorney -- I think President Trump did right thing. It was time to make a change. 

BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): It doesn't mean he's not a good person and he wasn't a great senator. It just means maybe he's a bad fit for that job.

CHAFFETZ: And look, he's a patriot, and he's done a lot for his country. He loves his country. But, you know, let's also remember. 

KILMEADE: It's too much at stake. 

CHAFFETZ: The Department of Justice is in chaos. Look at the inspector general report. The place is in chaos. And there is nothing that you can point to that Jeff Sessions has done to help clean it up. 

STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): And the frustration from the president was because he recused himself. Couldn't run the Russia investigation. I talked to somebody very close to the attorney general over the last couple of days and he said essentially that when he was nominated, he did not realize he would have to recuse himself. And then as if he was waiting for somebody from the White House to say you should drop out, but he felt apparently, according to this person, that if the president wanted him to drop out, he'd call him up and say you got to drop out or have you got to resign. The call never came. 

CHAFFETZ: Well the midterms have now come and gone and that letter is now in place. And the president like I said, made the right choice. And I do hope the president picks like somebody like a John Ratcliffe, I think -- he's my favorite to become, I hope he gets nominated. 

KILMEADE: Okay so, I know you like Ratcliffe. So let's talk about Matthew Whitaker. Because he wrote some things that the Mueller probe needs to be reined in and we think he thought that the Trump -- going to the Trump -- Donald Trump's finances is a bridge too far. They want him to recuse himself.

CHAFFETZ: Well, this is what you're going to get with Jerry Nadler now becoming the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. You're going to get get this bombardment on almost a daily basis that everything's on fire and that everything's inappropriate. This -- this gentleman that is now the acting attorney general is very well qualified. He's got a great resume for this. And he has the trust of the president. That's important. 

AINSLEY EARHARDT (CO-HOST): Everyone said it was going to happen right after the election and it did the day after. 

CHAFFETZ: It took just a few hours.

Previously:

Seven times Trump’s new acting attorney general defended him from the special counsel investigation

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Lou Dobbs attacks Jeff Sessions for “showing his loyalty to the deep state, over President Trump”